Senate passes $17 million Activity Service Fee budget

The Student Government Association Senate voted 29-5 on April 7 to pass the 2011-2012 Activity & Service Fee Budget.

The $17 million budget, made up of the $10.79 that UCF students pay per credit hour, will take effect in July and fund 33 registered student organizations and almost 18 agencies/departments including SGA.

"It was a much smoother process this year," said A&SF Budget Committee chairman Josh Miller, who also served on the committee the year before.

Last year's biggest item of contention was the MSC Funding Board, which received zero funding; this year it was lobbying firm GrayRobinson.

Miller said he knew before the special session that the lobbying firm would cause some disagreement among senators.

"I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding [about what they do]," Miller said. "When you're allocating a big chunk of money, they get very hesitant."

A member of GrayRobinson, which was budgeted at $56,500, was on hand to answer any questions senators had about what they do for UCF.

Senate attempted to pass a provision that would require the executive branch to obtain three bids from various law firms, but it failed.

One of the changes made during the special session was the addition of a line under the Student Union that will provide $2,500 toward a bike cooperative.

Another change that was made was the moving of $24,960 from the Repair & Replacement line of the Activity & Service Fee Business Office to the Other Personal Services line of the Office of Student Involvement for a Graduate Student Center.

The 33 out of the 48 RSOs that requested funding are receiving $285,400, which is almost $6,000 less than they received last year. Seventy-two RSOs requested funds last year and 43 of those received funding.

Of the RSOs, the Greek Council is getting the largest chunk of money with $42,000, which is $2,000 more than they received last year. The group to receive the least with $2,400 is the Biology Graduate Student Association, which didn't receive any funding last year.

The department to receive the most money was the Recreation & Wellness Center with about $5.3 million out of a total of approximately $16.7 million for agencies/departments.

Instead of allocating funds to satellite campuses' SGA, $144,500 will be used toward student outreach services, specifically an online assessment platform known as StudentVoice.

"The whole point eventually is to turn this into an agency," Miller said. "It's to outreach to more non-traditional students, grad students, regional campuses, Rosen, students who are older or very much younger."

A line item that's brand new to the budget this year is the All Knight Study space that opened on March 21. The space has been budgeted $73,400.

KnightLynx, which launched Jan. 28, was budgeted $110,000 — more than two times what it was allotted in the previous fiscal budget.

"Overall, I'm extremely happy with the entire budget process and exactly how much KnightLynx received," said KnightLynx director and vice president-elect Adam Brock. "I think this gives us enough room to grow as a brand new service here and for the implementation of a few new amenities for the program, which includes possibly new routes, new days and different things along those lines."